Pino Maroni
Giuseppe "Pino" Maroni is the son of Salvatore Maroni who becomes the second don of the Maroni crime family following his father's death. He is the main antagonist of Gotham: City of Scars and the enemy of Harvey Dent. Biography Background Rebuilding his father's empire Following his father's murder at the hands of Fish Mooney, Pino returns to Gotham City in the hopes of rebuilding his dad's empire. Despite his attempts he is arrested by the GCPD and locked away in Blackgate. Due to the intense downfall in Gotham City thanks to Theo Galavan, Pino is forced to sit and watch while his father's empire is completely obliterated. Pino is released from Blackgate after learning the ropes on the criminal life, and restarts a new generation for the Maroni crime family. He starts a war with Penguin, whom Pino blames for his father's demise and also harasses James Gordon. Pino goes into partnership with Roman Sionis and the pair of them start up their new criminal empire, taking advantage of the poor state that Gotham has fallen into thanks to the rise in monsters and other freaks overrunning the city. Pino ends up in conflict with district attorney Harvey Dent, who is attempting to create stability in Gotham and take down any remaining criminals wanting a piece of the city following Maroni's death and Carmine Falcone's retirement. Pino tries to buy off Dent, but Dent refuses to back down easily. Conflict with Harvey Dent Pino manipulates Arnold Wesker into attacking Dent during a dinner event with other officials in Gotham, but Dent survives the attack and uses it as a way to hit back further at the criminals of the city. Pino turns to threatening the life of Harvey's beloved sister Jessica. Although hoping this would cause Dent to back down from investigating him and hopefully be on Pino's payroll, something else unexpected happens. When at his restaurant, Pino is confronted by an enraged Dent who proceeds to place a gun to Pino's head and threaten his life. Pino shows signs of fear and pleads with Dent to take it easy, and that he is a lawman. Dent comes to his senses, and warns Pino that if anything happens to Jessica, the law won't hold him back from doing something. Angered at Dent's threats, Pino plans to ruin the beloved attorney. Realising there is more to the White Knight of Gotham than meets the eye, Pino digs into Dent's past and finds out about his abusive father Christopher Dent. whom suffered mental illness and also finds reports that Dent and his sister suffered severe abuse at his hands. Digging deeper, he finds Dent went to receive help for episodes involving mood-swings, which he then seemed to blot out and suppress as if nothing happened. Pino comes to the conclusion (with the help of some medical staff on his payroll) that the seemingly clean and all round good Harvey Dent is plagued with mental illness and high mood swings, and is capable of violence. Notes *Pino Maroni first appeared in Batman: Dark Victory #1 and was created by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. *In this continuity Pino is responsible for scarring Harvey Dent, a role which is actually fulfilled by his father Sal Maroni in the DC Comics. Category:Characters Category:Antagonists Category:Characters from the comics Category:Main Antagonists